Wednesday, August 24, 2011

It's almost fall!!! Can you believe it? My favorite season! Austin is still incredibly hot, but as I sit here with my air condition on full blast, I can almost convince myself that a cool breeze is blowing outside. It's this time of year that I miss living in Boston, with its perfect sweater weather and beautiful changing leaves.

My fall/ winter uniform usually consists of jeans, boots, cardigans, and scarves. I probably won't go too far away from the usual, but it's always good to expand your options.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

I got lost in the classics section of BookPeople this past weekend and thought about how there are so many good books that we forget about once we're out of school. It's also amazing how our understanding and appreciation of these books changes as we grow older, so we should really reread everything as adults.

With that thought in mind, I decided to do a list of the classic novels we must read (or reread). While I was trying to make the list though, I realized that there are way too many to list! How do you decide which are the best novels of all time?!

So, I figured that I'd write a list of {some} classic novels that I love on this post, and follow that up with a post on classic novels that I haven't read but I really really want to read. Does that work for you?

Here it is! My tried and true classics list (so far): - "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.This is one of my favorite books. The first couple of pages are a tough read, but if you get through those the rest is magic!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Graceling by Kristin Cashore is a young adult (YA) fiction novel. I really, really liked this book. I liked it so much that I read it through twice back-to-back and still wanted more. It's definitely how I felt about The Hunger Games, although when I read that, I already had the whole series so there was not waiting for the following book. I know that there is a prequel to this novel called Fire, but I think it spends a lot of time with the antagonist of Graceling - one that I'd rather not think about again. Instead I'll wait for Bitterblue; whenever that comes out.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Good morning! I hope you're enjoying August. Can you believe that the summer is almost over? I'm always thrilled for fall, but it still seems too sudden! Here are a couple of links to take your mind off the beginning of another month.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is long! 858 pages long to be exact. I'll admit that I was a little overwhelmed when my Amazon order came in; not necessarily because of the length - I love to read; long books mean I can stay in that world for longer - but because of the genre: it is a long Western novel. The closest that I've been to reading a Western before was theDark Tower series by Stephen King - not exactly your typical Western story. I'm not even a fan of Western movies; although I admit to being a fan of real-life cowboys!

Monday, July 11, 2011

I don't usually like the zoo - or Sea World for that matter. It's always made me sad to see animals shut in little spaces or mistreated. I also know, though, that many animals couldn't survive on their own in the wild so there is really nothing to complain about if they're being treated well. I bring this up because the Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary is exactly that - an animal sanctuary, and I really enjoyed my visit!

Granted, it was ridiculously hot outside so most of the animals were sleeping. There was a grey wolf that I waited around for that never woke up. I was a little bummed about that, but what we did see was really nice.

There were lots of birds! I guess many people buy exotic birds and then decide they're too difficult to maintain.

I love this picture! Aren't the colors beautiful?﻿

This one was too busy eating and never looked up.

This red bird was in it's house when I got there, but I think it liked my humming. It came out to say 'hello' right away!

Giant turtles! There were so many of them!

I don't know that a pig would be considered a rescue animal but, I guess, this one did save itself from becoming bacon. He was just so big that I needed to include the picture.

One of my favorite things about the Austin Zoo is that the animals are fairly close. This big lion was only a few feet away. That sounds like it might be scary but, surprisingly, it wasn't. That might be because many of these animals were kept as pets and are used to people. In addition to lions, the zoo has tigers, leopards and jaguars.

This bear had the nicest area out of all the animals. He had his own swimming pool and plenty of shade - perfect for the hot Texas summer!

The Austin Zoo is small. We went around the whole area in an hour and a half. It would have taken longer, but we didn't linger too much - did I mention it was hot?

We loved the zoo and will probably go back soon. I think it's great that they're providing a safe and natural environment for these animals - no concrete! If you're in Austin and have a couple of hours to spare, you should really stop by and visit.